Kristen Norman
In an effort to narrow the gap in gender equality and improve public health, microfinance institutions are increasingly creating products for women in developing countries. Experts caution against assuming that women’s empowerment is an automatic outcome of microfinance, and call for accompanying soft services such as health education, literacy training, and discussion groups on domestic violence. Organizations offering such services have had great results. However, the majority of micro lending institutions are for-profit entities uninterested in offering these expensive social services. Kristen’s project investigates the dynamics of group lending and […]
Jessica Pizzagoni
John Muir once stated, Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. California’s National Parks, renowned for their beauty and history, draw visitors from around the world and reflect John Muirs sentiment. Yet, each person has their own ideas and perceptions about the parks and their personal definitions of wilderness. Can Bourdieu’s “cultural capital”, or preferences associated with class differences, help explain these distinctions? With the use of ethnographic interviews, Jessica will connect […]
Gabriela Monico
An estimated 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants live in the U.S. 2.1 million youth may attempt to legalize through the DREAM Act, if enacted. An activist movement led by eligible youth has mobilized around this legislation, which has given rise to a narrative that casts eligible youth as deserving, othering the 67% that would not qualify. Through interviews and participant observation of two support groups, Rising Immigrant Scholars through Education and 67 Sueos, Gabriela will explore how the DREAM Act narrative has triggered a divergent process of oppositional consciousness among ineligible […]
Ekaterina Moiseeva
Conventionally, the word sex-worker creates an image of an economically deprived, uneducated and socially isolated female who enters the sex market as a last resort to survive. The word sex-work is almost synonymous to dirty work. In her project, Ekaterina will examine Russian females who travel to Japan as hostesses and engage in the sex trade, to present a new image of sex workers who are financially secure and accepted by families and the society as they earn enormous amounts of money. Ekaterina will travel to Russia and Japan to […]
Seung-Keun Martinez
Modern day pirates are among the most seemingly altruistic collaborators in the world. At least they are in reference to sustaining a public good. In fact, these internet based pirates provide a stunning real world example of a self-sustaining public good despite strong incentives to free ride. We observe this phenomenon in peer to peer (P2P) file sharing. The crux of Seung-Keun’s research project centers upon the question: How do P2P networks form and sustain themselves, and how can this be extended to influence better outcomes for other public goods? […]
Katherine Hood
While the recent economic downturn has brought national attention to the plight of the newly unemployed, downward mobility has been a steady feature of American society for generations. For Americans, however, downward mobility means facing not only declining economic prospects, but also the stigma of violating a cherished cultural norm: the pursuit of the American dream and the achievement of upward mobility. Katherine will travel to rural Oregon to conduct in-depth interviews with people affected by the decline of the timber industry, a once booming business that offered a chance […]
Kristine Lawson
Drawing on over five decades of folklore from U.C. Berkeleys Folklore Archives, as well as interviews and ethnographic participant observation to be conducted at Occupy events this summer, Kristine’s project draws comparisons between the folklore of the Free Speech Movement of 1964 and of the Occupy Movement of 2011-2012. With an understanding of folklore as promoting group identity and perpetuating notions of group boundaries, Kristine will trace pieces of folklore through each movement to demonstrate these tendencies. She will also examine the significance of the UC Berkeley campus as a […]
Hector Gutiérrez
Current research on Latino masculinity is just beginning to address the rich diversity of gendered experiences found among Latino men, suggesting that Latino men, like all men, are gendered in and through various ways. Still unaddressed, however, are the various different ways in which jornaleros (day laborers) are gendered, disrupting the assertion of a monolithic Latino male experience”. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews with jornaleros at two East Bay sites, Hector’s study will add valuable insight into gender understandings. Exploring attitudes during the current economic downturn, it will […]
Yosub Jung
Korean policy makers fear an impending education bubble caused by an over-supply of college graduates. Analysts point to the presence of three million unemployed college graduates as evidence that there are already too many young people with advanced education in Korea. The recent national Half-Tuition protests that paralyzed colleges and shut down roads suggests that students and parents are deeply concerned about the over-education problem facing Korea. This research project will use comprehensive schooling and labor market data, combined with econometric methods to analyze: (i) the existence of an education […]
Matthew Grigorieff
In the spring of 2009, UC Berkeley (UCB) offered 98 courses in their Physical Education Department– none designed for disabled students. Forty years after UCB helped forge a civil rights movement for people with disabilities, neither Berkeley nor any UC has a plan or program for addressing the fitness needs of the disabled. Matthew hopes to address that deficiency. He will create and evaluate a pilot program to create boxing opportunities for the disabled, and travel to learn the successes and limitations of several other California adaptive fitness programs, creating […]